once, we had a less-than-skilled attack on a company i was network admining at. I traced the source down to an ISP in a South American country and ISP and I contacted them stating that such-and-such IP on their network was engaging in an attack on my company. I asked them to look into this and block the user from hitting us thru the routes I provided. They said there was nothing they could do. I asked them what other recourse I had. They told me there was nothing I could do but shut down our systems and hope it went away. I asked them if I could take action to stop it and could I get and e-mail statement to that effect. They sent me an e-mail stating there is nothing they could do and I could do whatever I needed to correct the situation.

I ran it by the legal guys. got a thumbs up. put on a darker hat.

moved a bit of traffic off the oc-12 we had and proceeded to clobber the offending IP address and the nodes at the far end (ISP equipment). I got a very polite call after about an hour telling me that the offender has been pulled off-line and asking if I would be so kind as to stop defending myself as it was killing their network. I stopped my defense and was given a few names with contact info to call in the future should the needs arise.

so, now that the Azure cloud is down and the news has hit Slashdot - the "service dashboard" has now been "slashdotted"

Network Error (tcp_error)

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you know the hunters are basically happy shooting things. the 'SHARK" people want to save the pigeons. you should all compromise. Have the "SHARK" people just launch an ass-load of cheap RC things into the air and let the hunters shoot those. this'll keep the hunters in an amused state and the pigeons in a not-dead state. win-win.

We had a contractor, 20+ years at a telco, interviewed great, like a master-class in troubleshooting. We threw him at a customer-driven iOS (Cisco) update project. For 2 weeks he documented, prepared and printed a vast library of "stuff." He didn't actually "do" anything. When I approached him for his status and he told me he was preparing for his first one. I was a little surprised, but figured "OK, maybe he's gonna do a bunch now (looking at all the docs)". The next week goes by, more documenting..... He finally gets to actual work. Proceeds to load the wrong iOS image for the first switch he touched......

lesson learned = experience only matters if it's practical AND relevant. Old empirical knowledge is great for standing in front of a class but does not necessarily translate to the real world.

The next guy was much better.

- me = 20+ years in various IT, last 7 in Network Engineering, no certs, never bothered -

i've got this going on now. i have all my dvd's loaded to a server. said server also hosts a tv-tuner card (that allows us to record broadcast hd stuff) and our music and photos. all this digital joy is accessible from any connected device on the home network (ps3, laptops etc.). my family has learned to navigate the folder structure and watch what they want when they want and where they want.

the living room lcd has a small m$ netbook connected to it and a cheap 2.4GHz wireless mini-keyboard/touchpad combo. this can access the media share and the internet. the only problem is the lo-spec n270 proc has trouble doing 1080-hd content (it can handle 720 or less fine). the ps3 does all the blu-ray stuff thru a big 52" plasma screen (movies look real good on it with the better black levels).

the network is a slightly tweaked 2-wire setup and all the peripherals are wifi laptops and all-in-ones. the server and ps3 are wired.

i would add a cable feed IF i was able to pay for just what i want (i am not really feeling the need to add 50+ to my monthly bills). as it is, we are just paying for a high-speed internet link and a cell phone (i have a corporate one).

This bill, passed late last night in a 93-7 vote, declares the entire USA to be a "battleground" upon which U.S. military forces can operate with impunity, overriding Posse Comitatus and granting the military the unchecked power to arrest, detain, interrogate and even assassinate U.S. citizens with impunity.Link to Original Source

An anonymous reader writes: As reported by OMGUbuntu, Corel has acquired Bibble Labs, creators of Bibble Pro — a photographic workflow application along the same lines as as Adobe Lightroom. Corel has taken the Bibble Pro base and used it to create AfterShot Pro and is maintaining support for Linux, Mac, and Windows.

walterbyrd writes: "Tablet maker Nuevas Tecnologías y Energías Catalá, the company behind one of Apple's rare court defeats, is now taking the fruity tech titan to court for extortion. . . Apple alleged that the teeny-tiny company's tablet, sold in Spain under the NT-K brand, was a forged iPad, and on that basis convinced custom officials to impound shipments of the rival gear coming into Spain. Those shipments ended up sitting in a warehouse for a year, costing NT-K dearly, and now it wants to see Apple hauled up for extortion as well as recovering some damages"Link to Original Source